Engine-starting apparatus



J. BlJUR ENGINE START ING APPARATUS Original Filed Sept. 6, 1915WITNESSES a. \q Q 5% Patented Aug. 11, 1925.

UNITED STATES PAT OSEPH BIJUR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, 'BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO ECLIPSE EN'I" or-r ce.

MACHINE COMPANY, OF ELMIBA HEIGHTS, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ENGINE-STARTING APPARATUS. j

Application filed September s,- 1913, Serial N... 788,416.RenewedJanuar'y 10, 1925.

T0 all uihom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH BIJUR, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Engine StartingApparatus, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in'the art to which itappertains'to make and use the same.

v This invention relatesto means for meshing gears, and with regard tocertain-features' thereof, more specifically to 'engine startingapparatus. One of the objects of this invention is to provide practicaland efficient means for insuring the proper meshing of gears. startingapparatus for internal combustion engines which shall be simple, durableand inexpensive in construction and reliable in action. Other objectsare to provide in apparatus of this type means whereby the wear isequalized and the chances of injury to the parts reduced to a minimum.Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointedout'hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing,'in which is shown one of various possibleembodiments of this invention, Figure 1 is a. diagrammatic elevationshowing the parts in inoperative condition;

Fig. 2 is a sectional end View on a largerv scale taken substantially onthe line aa of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectiontaken along the line bb of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 isa similar view showing the same parts at a slightly different stage oftheir operation; I

Fig.5 is a diagrammatic end view of a gear tooth with a part actingthereon; and Fig. 6 is a similar view of like parts at another stageiintheir action.

Another object is to provide- Similar reference characters refer tosimthere is shown a series motor 1, suitably con nected with a source ofcurrent 2, the connection being controlled by the switch or cut-out 3.The shaft 4. of this motor is extended and provided with a heavy threadupon which is positioned a pinion 5. The

latter member either fits these threads or is provided witha projectionentering the same whereby relative rotary movement of these parts willcause a longitudinal motion of the pinion. -Pinion or gear-5 has affixedthereto a depending weight 6 and preferably one or more air-vanes 7.

It will thus be seenthat'as the motor 1 is v started the weight "6 andair-vanes 7, or either of them, tend to retard the rotation of pinion 5and it is driven toward the free end of the shaft 4, resting against asuitable stop-nut 8.

Mounted adjacent pinion 5 is the fly-wheel 9, preferably of an internalcombustion en-' glue, andprovided upon its outer surface with gear teeth10 of such pitch and axial disposition as to mesh with the teeth of gear5 .upon the latter moving. longitudinally along shaft 4. The teeth ofgear 5 as well as the teeth 10 not only have the ordinary convergence oftheir surfaces in outward radial directions, but the surfaces convergelongitudinally at their ends, as indicated in Figs. 1, 5 and 6;Moreover, the teeth are rounded, as indicated at 11 in Fig. 3.

Secured to the outer end of gear 5, as by means of the screws12, is aresilient annular-member 13 of outwardly concave con-' formationprovided with a plurality of spring teeth 14 substantially registeringwith the teeth of gear 5. Each of these teeth has an end portionsharplybent to ward the ends of teeth 10, as indicated at 15, andprovided with an inclined edge or surface 16, as best shown in Fig.5 ofthe drawing. One of the functions of the latter device is as follows If,upon the gear 5. moving toward meshing position, .its teeth are insubstantial registry with teeth 10,

then the inclined part 16 of the uppermost.

arm or arms 14 will engage the endwardly tapering edges of teeth 10 andwill tend to rotate gear 5 to such position as to bring the teeth of thegears out of alignment one with the other. It is to be understood thatdue to the resiliency of the member 13 the above pressure is yieldinglyapplied, thus tending to prevent injury to the parts, and, if the rotarytendency is insu'llieient, the spring arm or arms will be so compressedas to ride beneath the teeth 10 and press upwardly with considerableforce against their points, this action being indicated in fulllines inFig. 5, whereas the end engagement is shown in Fig. 6. The above engagement of the teeth 10 by this spring member, either at their ends orupwardly at their points with greater force, will insure the swinging ofthe teeth of gear 5 into proper alignment and the proper meshing of thegears. It is to be particularly noted, moreover, that the inclination ofthe edge portion 16 is of such direction that its tendency to swing gear5 is aided rather than impeded by the friction due to the rotary motionof the shaft 4:. It will be seen from a con sideration of Fig. 1 of thedrawing that the motion of this shaft, in order to throw pinion 5 intomeshing position, would be left handed as viewed from the motor end.This is indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, and the inclined spring teethshown in dotted lines in this figure will tend to swing the gear in thesame direction.

The operation of this apparatus is substantially as follows :-Assumingthe parts in the inoperative condition shown in Fig. 1, the switch 3 isclosed whereupon the motor immediately starts. The pinion 5 has atendency to hold its position against angular rotation by reason of thedepending weight 6, but even if it should spin with the shaft due to theuse of a light weight or unclean thread, the air-vanes 7 will so retardits rotation as to cause it to advance teeth 10, as above described, andinsures proper meshing of the gears. As the pinion 5 comes to the end ofits outward travel it assumes a state of rotation equal to the rate ofdrive of shaft 4 and correspondingly drives the fly-wheel 9 through asuitable speed reducing ratio. The engine connected with fiy-wheel 9 isthus turned over and its charge is compressed to start its regularaction. As the latter takes place the speed ratio of the flywheel gearto gear 5 is such that the latter is driven upon shaft 4 at a greaterrate of speed than that of the motor armature, and hence the pinion isforced bymeans of its threaded connection laterally out of mesh withteeth 10. It will be understood that the toothed face of fly-wheel 9 ispreferably sufliciently wide to receive not only the teeth of gear 5,but the spring arms 14 in meshing relation. The starting operation isnow complete, and it is to be noted that if the cut-out is inadvertentlyheld closed when the engine has started or is closed while the engine isrunning, the pinion 5 will advance only until the spring teeth 14:engage the rapidly traveling teeth 10, and their inclination is suchthat they tend to yield and also tend to force the pinion 5 away fromintermeshing position. Moreover, by this yielding engagement of thespring arms with the teeth 10. the linear velocity of which is extremelyhigh, the pinion 5 is quickly bumped into a rotation equal to thearmature shaft, preventing further advance, and then to an angular speedgreater than the armature shaft, which will cause the pinion to recede.

It will'thus be seen that there is provided apparatus in which theseveral objects .of this invention are achieved and in which manyfeatures are presented which are of material advantage in practical use.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely dili'ercnt embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair of gears,means adapted to move the toothed portions of said gears longitudinallytoward meshing position, and a resilient member mounted upon one of saidgears and provided with an inclined portion adapted to engage the teethof the other gear and steer the gears into meshing relation.

2. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair of gears,means adapted to move the toothed portion of one of said gearslongitudinally toward meshing position with the other of said gears. anda resilient member mounted upon said longitudinally movable gear andprovided with an inclined portion adapted to engage the teeth of theother gear and steer the gears into meshing relation.

3. Tn apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair of gears,means adapted with respect to said shaft, a second gear positioned tomesh with said first gear as the latter travels along said shaft, andan.

, annular spring member secured to said first gear and of outwardlyconcave conformation terminating in a plurality of teeth registeringwith the teeth of said first gear and each .of which is-provided withasharply bent end having an inclined edge adapted I to engage the teethof said second gear.

5. I i-"apparatus of the class described, in combination, a source ofpower, a shaft driven from said source of-power, a gear threaded'uponsaid shaft, a second gear positioned to receive said first gear in meshI as it follows the threads of said shaft, and

resilient means preceding said first gear as it approaches meshingposition adapted to expose an inclined surface to the teeth of therotation of said said second gear and accelerate the angular speed ofsaid first gear by its contact with said teeth.

6. In apparatusof the class described, in a gear, a source of shaft andpositioned to mesh with said first gear as it moves along said shaft,and means adapted by resistance to the air to retard second gear withrespect to'said shaft.

7. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a source ofpower, a gear, a threaded shaft driven from some source of ower a secondear threadedu on said shaft and positioned to mesh with said first gearas it moves along said shaft, and an air-vane operatively related tosaidgea'rand adapted by the resistance of thegtir to tend to retard therotation of said second gear with respect to said shaft.

8. In' apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair of gearsone of which is adapted to be moved axially into mesh with the other,and means operated as an incident to the alinement of'the teeth of thetwo gears to partially rotate one of the gears to cause meshingregister. with respect to the teeth of such gears before they reachmeshing position.

9. In apparatus of the class described,in' combination, a pair of gearsone of which is adapted to be moved axially into,mesh

is stationary'with respect to axial movement andthe other of which ismovable axially into mesh with such stationary gear,

and means adapted to partially rotate such movable gear to cause meshingregister with respect to the teeth of the two gears before they reachmeshing position. I 11. In apparatus of the class described, incombination, a pair of gears one of which is stationary with respect toaxial movement and the other of which is movable axially into mesh withsuch stationary gear, and means carried by such movable gear and adaptedto partially rotate it to cause meshing register with respect to theteeth of the two position.

12. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair ofgears, means adapted to move one of the gears longitudinally towardsmeshing position withthe other of said gears, and means carriedby gearsbefore they reach meshing,

said longitudinally movable gear andexadapted to move one of the gearslongitu- 'dinally towards meshing position with the other of said gears,and a shell carried by said longitudinally movable gear and projectingbeyond the face thereof, the outer edge of such shell being toothed toengage and cooperate with the teeth of the other gear to cause partialrotation of the longitudinally movable gear when the teeth of. the twogears are in alinement.

14. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a pair of gearsadapted to mesh with each other, one of the gears being axially movablefor meshing with the other gear, and means separate and independent ofthe teeth of the axially movable gear and adapted to cooperate with theteeth of the other gear to cause meshing register between the teeth ofthe two gears.

15. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a drivingshaft,.a pair of gears adapted to mesh with each other, one of whichgears is stationary with respect to axial movement and the other ofwhich as an incident to the alinement of the teeth of the two gears topartially rotate such axially movable gear to cause meshing registerwith respect to the teeth of such gears before they reach meshingposition.

16. In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a screwthreaded rotatable driving shaft, a pair of gears adapted to mesh witheach other, one of which gears.

is stationary with respect to axial movement and the other of which isthreaded on said shaft for axial movement longitudinally thereon and forrotary movement thereof, and means operated as an incident to the,alinement of the teeth of the two gears to cause meshing register withrespect to the teeth of such gears before they reach meshing position.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

JOSEPH BIJUR. Vitnesses:

R. S. BLAIR, C. J. KULBERG.

